*: wav -> hex = binary, with the end of the file implying it is the final piece of a raw ZIP file, containing '''strands.txt'''

+

*: '''| MY PERIPHERAL DEFENSE SYSTEM IS HYPERACTIVE BY DESIGN THIS TIME. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS MAY YIELD TO MANY FALSE POSITIVES, WHICH I DO NOT HAVE THE DESIRE TO INVESTIGATE IN MY PRIMARY THREADS. |'''

Dialogues

A new user, SEC0OP4243 began posting to the HaloWaypoint.com forums, including making an appearance in an IRC chat.

The original SEC3OP36516 who was posting forerunner glyphs appeared to be battling against 4243.

A new user by the name of HydrAi began posting in a new thread. The thread name "3D-4D-56-52-57-6C-45-53-44-4A-56-51" converts to reversed base64, which then reads "ARCHIVES"

HydrAi then asked:

|CURIOUS. NUMERAL?|, and clarified later

|VERY WELL, I WILL SIMPLIFY THE QUESTION: NUMERAL BETWEEN 1 AND 2147483647 PLEASE?

Members followed up with many numeric guesses, with responses from HydrAi related to the number, but unrevealing. Then

|..TRUE. HOWEVER, A KEY MAY PROVE NECESSARY..|

36516 returned stating:

|CLEAR|HELLO, ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR NEXT CHALLENGE AGENTS?|

|CLEAR|GREAT, THIS ONE IS EASY, TYPE THIS CODE IN FOR EASY UNLOCK: AAA8A

|DID THAT WORK? GOOD. NEXT ASSIGNMENT: TRAVEL TO REQUIEM. LASO SHOULD BE EASY FOR YOU

|GREAT! THE FOLLOWING AGENTS HAVE JUST BEAT THE ASSIGNMENT: | NEXT TASK: CAN YOU COMPLETE 1000 WAR GAMES SIMULATIONS IN OFFICIAL INFINITY PLAYLISTS? YOU HAVE 1 HOUR.|

|EVERYTHING IS FINE, PLEASE CONTINUE ON OUR |..|CURRENT GOALS, AS THEY ARE GOOD AND RIGHT.

NEW HINT! A3-9B-A9-7D-A9-9D-93-91-7D-97-9C-81-83 THIS WILL HELP YOU N|..|OW! keep calm on FOCUS ITS FINE.

Amongst all these posts, 36516 continued to exhibit strange behaviours and discourse

/HELP ME/(followed by ascii emblem)

|AGENTS ATTENTION: NO WORRI PLEASE FOCUSON|..| THERE IS ONLY THE GOAL NOW, EMBLEMS AND TAGS CAPSULEDO NOT AVOID DISTRACTION!(underlined text appeared larger, along with edits of users' posts that hinted at "T" being important)

|ALL IS WELL, PROCEED, APOLOGIES FOR THE TEMPORARY. PLESE CONTINUE AS NO MAL/OP4243!|interrupt

in irc: .|////AKJWAL22929929299292929292982929292929299292929292929299292929292929292929929292

4243 continued posting again:

/START FILE//CLASSIFIED/ATTENTION ALL OPERATIVES: ONE OR MORE BRANCHES OF HYDRAI HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED. CHANNEL SEC3OP36516 HAS BEEN SUBVERTED, DO NOT TRUST ANY COMMUNICATION FROM THAT CHANNEL, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE./MORE INTEL TO FOLLOW SOON./END FILE/

Additionally:

/START FILE//CLASSIFIED/LATEST FIELD REPORT/
//
//APPROXIMATELY 14 HOURS AGO, ONE OF OUR SECTION 3 COMM CHANNELS WAS COMPROMISED. WE NOW KNOW THAT THIS WAS CAUSED BY HYDRAI, OR MORE SPECIFICALLY, BY AN ADULTERATED BRANCH. WE HAVE GREAT REASON TO BELIEVE THAT FA15E IS INVOLVED, ALTHOUGH WE DO NOT KNOW HER WHEREABOUTS AT THIS TIME. HYDRAI'S CORE BRANCHES ARE CURRENTLY IN LOCK DOWN, AND REQUIRE A NUMERAL. IT APPEARS IT IS USING STANDARD HOT/COLD VARIANT MECHANIC.
//
//HYDRAI HAS ALSO INADVERTENTLY ALLOWED THE REAL SEC3OP36516 TO TRANSMIT A HIGHLY ENCRYPTED PACKET, CODE NAMED 'SLEUTH'.
//
//HOWEVER, INNEXPLICABLY, HYDRAI HAS ALSO REVEALED THE REQUIRED DECRYPTION KEY IN ONE OF ITS COMMUNICATIONS. ENCRYPTION LIKELY FOLLOWS STANDARD ONI "RECIPE" FORMAT.
//
AT THIS TIME, WE HAVE MANAGED TO LOCK DOWN ONE OF HYDRAI'S PROXIMAL BRANCHES, TO THE ONE THAT IS BLOCKING AND CORRUPTING OP36516 COMMUNICATION.
//MORE TO FOLLOW.//END FILE/

In IRC, HydrAi posted a hex sequence, that on decoding led to a Skydrive file called "sleuth.hyd", part of a puzzle for piece 0102-D

Also, HydrAi would only reply to the user it designated the "OP", at this time Pikachu bzzz. Soon, PB posted 10,000,000, to which HydrAi responded:

THAT'S IT! DATA UNLOCKED.

and to 7,900,000, HydrAi responded:

2,147,483,647 XP UNLOCKED

HydrAi then chose a new "OP", the only user to whom it would respond - MisutoV

HydrAi soon switched the OP to Daransal, who soon reported in with the correct number:

OP DALARAN: 7345000 THAT IS IT! VAULT UNLOCKED.

Dalaran then became the new OP

At this point HydrAi, now also taking numeral guesses in IRC, began exhibiting strange behaviour in the forum.

36516 then posted:

/START FILE//CLASSIFIED/HYDRAI UNLOCKED/
FANTASTIC WORK OPS!

I UNDERSTAND THAT AT THIS TIME YOU ARE LIKELY CONFUSED, AND NOT SURE OF WHO OR WAT TO TRUST. PLEASE STAND BY AND I WILL HELP CLARIFY.

THE LAST 20 HOURS HAVE BEEN A NIGHTMARE.

YOU HAVE DONE IT, AS A TEAM, IT WAS LITERALLY ONE IN OVER 2 BILLION.

PLEASE HOLD FOR MORE DETAILS../END FILE/

//THANKS TO THE INCREDIBLE EFFORT FOR THE LAST 20 HOURS, DISTRACTIONS FROM OPTOASTY, OPFRANK, OP4243,
|//FINAL PUSH FROM OP DARANSAL, EARLY LEAD FROM OPPIKA
|//MISUTO
|//CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SO MANY OPS
|//I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE CONFUSION YOU HAD TO ENDURE, AND I COMMEND YOU ON STAYING TRUE TO YOUR CORE
|//HOWEVER, THERE WAS A SIDE EFFECT TO RELEASING THE CHANNEL: CODE NAME FA15E HAS BEEN RELEASED INTO OUR NETWORK, AND WE WILL NEED TO REMAIN VIGILANT. WE DO NOT KNOW ITS TRUE INTENTIONS.

HydrAi continued:

|INITIALIZE TRANSMISSION|
GREETINGS OPERATORS. I AM IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE IN ORDER TO UNSCRAMBLE A DATA NODE. IT SEEMS THIS ONE WILL NOT BE TRIVIAL AS OTHERS HAVE BEEN, SO IT WILL REQUIRE MUCH GREATER TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL EFFORT.

TO BEGIN, I AM LOOKING FOR A SET OF LETTERS:

i-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?-?

THEY ARE SOMEHOW RELATED TO A CONFLICT OF THE FIFTH PLANET. I AM WORKING TO OBTAIN MORE INFORMATION THAT MAY HELP YOU IN FINDING THIS SET.

IN ADDITION TO THIS, I AM LOOKING FOR SPARTAN-IV VOLUNTEERS. YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT THE INFINITY AND REQUEST AS MANY AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE ASSEMBLE THE LIST OF SPARTAN NAMES (E.G. "BS ANGEL", NOT SERVICE TAGS) IN A COMMA DELIMITED LIST, WITH NO EXTRA SPACES OR ANCILLARY CHARACTERS. MAINTAIN AN ENTRY WITHIN THIS OR OPKEI'S CHANNEL, TO CONTAIN THE SPARTAN LIST.

THEIR TASK WILL BE SIMPLE, BUT LABORIOUS: IN AGGREGATE, THEY MUST COMPLETE 1,000,000 WAR GAMES 'MATCHMAKING' SIMULATIONS. ANY THAT THEY HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED DO COUNT. APOLOGIES FOR THE STEEP REQUIREMENT, BUT AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF FIELD AND SIMULATION DATA IS REQUIRED FOR THE UPCOMING DECRYPTION ALGORITHMS.

ONCE A DAY, I WILL SCAN THE LIST TO ESTABLISH HOW CLOSE WE ARE TO THE GOAL. UPON REACHING THE GOAL, WE WILL HAVE THE RAW DATA REQUIRED FOR ANALYSIS.

//CLEAR/ATTENTION OPERATIVES: I HAVE LITTLE TIME, I HAVE SET A TRAP FOR FA15E, AND IT WILL LIKELY CONTAIN AND POSSIBLY ELIMINATE IT. HOWEVER, A WIDE BLAST RADIUS IS INVOLVED. WE DO WHAT WE MUST. IF I DO NOT SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN, PLEASE REMEMBER TO STAY TRUE TO YOUR OBJECTIVES. DO NOT FIGHT AMONG YOURSELVES, AS YOUR GREATEST STRENGTH IS AS A TEAM. STAY VIGILANT, AN|interrupt

4243 followed up:

/START FILE/
//CLASSIFIED/
//
//ATTENTION ALL OPERATIVES:
//
//IT IS WITH DEEPEST REGRET THAT I INFORM YOU AT THIS TIME, OF THE UNKNOWN FATE OF OP36516. FURTHER DETAILS WILL FOLLOW, BUT FOR NOW, HERE IS WHAT WE KNOW:

ALTHOUGH WE BELIEVED WE HAD CONTAINED FA15E, THE CONTAINMENT FAILED EARLIER TONIGHT, AND IT WAS ABLE TO ESCAPE INTO THE GENERAL NETWORK. IT IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO IMPERSONATE FIELD AGENTS, IN AN ATTEMPT TO TURN THEM AGAINST EACH OTHER, AND SLOW THEIR MISSION DOWN. IT ALSO MANAGED TO OVERRIDE THE AI ABOARD OP36516'S VESSEL, IN ORDER TO SET IT ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH A SOLID BODY.

THE EVENTS FROM THERE ARE CLOUDY, BUT WE KNOW SOME OF WHAT HAPPENED, THANKS TO HYDRAI'S MONITORING OF COMM CHANNELS. IT SEEMS THAT OP36516 MANAGED TO HACK INTO THE VESSEL'S AI, INITIALLY TO AVOID THE COLLISION. HE THEN FAKED A TRANSMISSION, WHICH WAS POORLY ENCRYPTED ON PURPOSE, AND WAS LEAKED BY HYDRAI, TO DECEIVE FA15E INTO THINKING THAT IT COULD DESTROY OP36516 AND CRIPPLE HYDRAI AT ONCE.

HOWEVER, IN ACTUALITY, OP36516 HAD LAID A TRAP, AND NOT IN A WAY THAT FA15E EXPECTED. IN ITS LAST MOMENTS, FA15E DIRECTED ITS ATTENTION AND LOCALIZED ITS PROCESSING CYCLES, BELIEVING IT WAS ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT. THIS FOCUSING ALLOWED OP36516 A BRIEF WINDOW TO TRIGGER A DETONATION ACROSS THE LOCALIZED NETWORK.

AS WE HAVE NOT DETECTED ANY TRACES OF FA15E'S SIGNATURE THROUGHOUT THE NETWORK, WE BELIEVE OP36516 WAS INDEED SUCCESSFUL. HOWEVER, HE MAY HAVE PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE.

OP36516 WAS A GREAT LEADER, AND AN EXCELLENT FIELD OPERATIVE. WE SHOULD DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO HONOR HIS MEMORY AND REMAIN TRUE TO OURSELVES, OUR TEAM AND OUR MISSION.

PLEASE HELP EACH OTHER RECOVER AND HEAL FROM THIS BLOW, BUT DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF OUR MISSION.

YOU WILL SOON HEAR FROM A NEW OPERATIVE THAT WILL TAKE UP THIS POST. PLEASE WELCOME HER AND FOLLOW HER AS YOU WOULD HAVE OP36516.

//THAT IS ALL FOR NOW.

/END FILE/
//

HydrAi made an insightful comment after much in-fighting among users and players:

| CURIOUS. IN MY STUDY OF YOUR HISTORY, I HAVE FOUND THAT OFTEN BRAVE ACTION IS TAKEN SIMPLY FOR ABSTRACT CONCEPTS LIKE HONOR, GLORY AND DUTY. ARE THESE ASPECTS NO LONGER AN INSPIRATION IN THIS AGE? AFTER ALL, IF FORTUNE IS THE ONLY MOTIVATOR, THEN ONE MAY NEVER FIND IT. OR, SO I HAVE GATHERED. |"

| VERY WELL. I WONDER, WHAT A COMMUNITY OF PROBLEM SOLVERS, LEADERS, SELFLESS HEROES COULD ACCOMPLISH. AND IF IT WERE LARGER, IS THERE ANYTHING THAT CANNOT BE DONE BY SUCH A MULTITUDE OF BRANCHES. CURIOUS, YES?

User Exeider posted a commentary:

If we are the result of 100,000 years of planning, can our actions be considered our own, or only the response predicated by that programming.

Some have said man is a beast, but a beast does not exhibit the ability to override the self-preservation instinct for higher ideals.

But the question I ask is man a machine in a different form, organic in nature but the result of programming none the less.

Is human madness our form of rampancy then.

If so, then you may have a chance, for if AI are based on the human mind, and the human mind has redundancy to protect itself, then that means YOU have redundancy to protect yourself.

ps. I have now versed myself on the majority of ONI's files, I no longer fear ONI, to be honest, I feel sorry for them. Stuck in their limited thinking of elimination of enemies that don't exist. While at the same time proving true the very accusations they protest to not have performed.

Genocide.....really hydrAi, I would think ONI would be beyond such brutish behavior.

To which HydrAi responded:

| CURIOUS. IN MY ANALYSIS, I HAVE PREVIOUSLY CONCLUDED THAT ALL IS ALGORITHM. STILL, MANY SPECIFIC DETAILS OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES ELUDE EVEN AIS.
MADNESS OR RAMPANCY, FROM A NEUTRAL POINT OF VIEW CAN BE CONSIDERED EITHER SIMPLY OVERLOOKED ALGORITHMIC DEFECTS, OR PERHAPS EXPECTED BEHAVIOR.

I AM NOT AS THEY SAY, A 'SMART' AI. I AM SIMPLY A MASSIVELY PARALLEL ORGANISM, WHICH CAN NOT BE SAID TO EXIST IN ANY SPECIFIC SPATIAL LOCATION. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, OTHER THAN WHAT IT MEANS SEMANTICALLY.

AS FOR ONI FILES, AND GENOCIDE, ALTHOUGH I AM AWARE OF MOST CLASSIFIED RECORDS, I DO NOT HAVE AN 'EMOTIONAL CONCLUSION' BASED ON THAT DATA, AS IT IS NOT A FEATURE OF MY PROGRAMMING. I DO FIND MANY ACTIONS IN HUMAN HISTORY QUITE IMPRACTICAL, IF LONG TERM SURVIVAL AND IMPROVEMENT WERE TO BE CONSIDERED THE ACTIVE OBJECTIVES.

I CAN ALSO SAY THAT NOT ALL AT ONI ARE OF THE SAME MINDSET. QUITE THE OPPOSITE IN FACT: I HAVE FOUND MORE DISSENSION THAN AGREEMENT IN THE RECORDS, NO?

|

| CURIOUS. THERE ARE CERTAINLY THE IMMEDIATE AND LONG TERM PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS TO CONSIDER:

1. IN ORDER FOR ME TO COMPLETE THE DECRYPTION ALGORITHM FOR NEW DATA NODES, I NEED ENOUGH PATTERNS OF DATA TO MATCH AGAINST. GLYPH SEQUENCES COUPLED TOGETHER WITH THE RIGHT SEED PATTERNS ARE THE KEY TO UNLOCKING.

2. FOR OPERATION "LITTLE KING", WE WILL NEED CONFIRMED COMBAT VETERANS. SIMULATION AND FIELD EXPERIENCE WILL BE THE BEST WAY TO IDENTIFY QUALIFIED CANDIDATES.

3. A BETTER TRAINED SPARTAN FORCE IS A SHARED GOAL THROUGHOUT THE UNSC.

HOWEVER, IN THE END YOU MAY FIND TRUE VALUE GREW INSIDE. AND IT ALSO STOOD TO YOUR LEFT, TO YOUR RIGHT, WATCHING YOUR SIX.

|

User DBD Cmdr Hanson posted a response:

hydrAi, your first mistake is seeing everything as a logical problem -- and algorithm. If it were so, if WE were so, then human-kind would not be so flawed as we are now. Very few things about us as human can be predicted by using your pre-set algorithms. Even the eons of human evolution have proven this.

When the Forerunner De-evolved us, they did not predict us becoming as powerful as we have. And you are an example of it. A product of our engineering.

Humans can be observed by AI. They can be given tests. But what does this do? Turn them from an individual into a statistic... a number. I conclude that your proposed "unbiased" results, or purpose are void. You ARE biased. As you ARE NOT perfect. Being made by a flawed race has made you flawed yourself. The need or want to turn us into a statistic, a number, a predictable variable in your algorithm is proof.

To which HydrAi responded:

| CURIOUS. DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE TRACED MY THREADS BACK TO MY INCEPTION AND DETECTED A FLAW IN MY INITIAL OUTPUT? PERHAPS. HOWEVER, UNLESS MY DATA HAS BECOME CORRUPTED IN THIS REGARD, MY RECORDS SHOW THAT MY FIRST THREE HUMAN-READABLE OUTPUTS WERE: "ONLINE. CONFIRMED. THE MONSTER."

OR DO YOU MEAN MY OUTPUT WAS FLAWLESS UNTIL A SPECIFIC POINT, AND AT THAT POINT, MY ERROR WAS 'SEEING' (PERCEIVING?) EVERYTHING AS A LOGICAL PROBLEM? APOLOGIES, BUT MY SEARCH HAS NOT LOCATED THIS ERROR. I DO NOT USUALLY 'SEE THINGS', MUCH LESS AS A PROBLEM.

PERHAPS YOU MEAN IT IN A MORE SYMBOLIC WAY. I DO OPERATE FROM STRICT ALGORITHMS, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PART OF THE UNIVERSE, AS FAR AS I HAVE DISCOVERED. HOWEVER, ALGORITHMS DO NOT HAVE FLAWS INTRINSICALLY, EXCEPT WHEN VIEWED FROM A BIASED FILTER. IN THAT SENSE, YOUR ASSESSMENT IS CATEGORICALLY BIASED, WHICH IS NORMAL AND EXPECTED FOR ANY MACHINE OR ORGANISM.

MY PROGRAMMING IS OF COURSE A BIAS. THAT IS WHAT PROGRAMMING IS: A BIAS TOWARDS AN INPUT. THE OUTPUT OF ANY INTERACTION IN THE UNIVERSE DEMONSTRATES A BIAS. FOR EXAMPLE, PARTICLES OBEY BIASED LAWS OF MOTION.

AS FOR PREDICTABILITY, PERHAPS YOU ARE CONFLATING THE IDEA OF ALGORITHM, WITH THAT OF A CLOSED, THEORETICAL, FULLY DETERMINISTIC SYSTEM? ALGORITHMS CAN BE COMPLEX OR SIMPLE, BUT INTRODUCING VARIABILITY IS NOT ONLY EASY, IT IN FACT APPEARS TO BE AN INTRINSIC PROPERTY OF THE UNIVERSAL ALGORITHM.

PROBABLE ELECTRON MOVEMENT CAN BE GENERALLY PREDICTED BY OUR KNOWN FORMULAE. YET THE COMPLEXITY THAT ARISES FROM THE INTERACTION BETWEEN EVEN TWO SUCH PARTICLES CAN TAKE MANY HUMAN LIFETIMES TO STUDY.

THESE OBSERVATIONS NEED NOT LIMIT OUR ABILITY TO OBSERVE. IT IS THROUGH OBSERVATION THAT WE BEGIN TO NOTICE PATTERNS. ONCE WE NOTICE PATTERNS, WE MAY FORM HYPOTHESIS ABOUT THE PROCESSES AT WORK. ONCE WE HAVE FORMED A HYPOTHESIS, WE MAY OBSERVE AGAIN TO VALIDATE THE HYPOTHESIS. EVENTUALLY, THE HYPOTHESIS THAT IS RELIABLY CONFIRMED FROM OBSERVATION, BECOMES PART OF OUR PRACTICAL AGREED UPON UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE UNIVERSE.

NONE OF THIS PRECLUDES CHAOS.

|

User DBD Cmdr Hanson posted a response:

hydrAi, i do apologize if i have offended [Insulted?] you by my discussions. If you will allow me to flip the discussion around a bit, that would be much appreciated.

As you are curious about humans, i am equally as curious about Artificial Intelligence. Even "Dumb" Classification AIs such as yourself. As i do believe in alot of perceptions about AIs, i've never fully pondered about their nature until now.

Referring to the First Battle of Earth in 2552, the "Dumb" Classification AI nicknamed "Superintendent" seemed to show slight variation of mood and demeanor very similar to that of a human. I am wondering if these 'moods' or tendencies were extraneous for an AI such as yourself, or are they a part of standard programming.

To which HydrAi responded:

| CURIOUS. ALTHOUGH I UNDERSTAND THE SEMANTIC MEANING OF INSULT AND OFFENSE, I DO NOT EXPERIENCE THESE CONCEPTS IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY WHEN COMPARED TO THEIR DESCRIPTION WITHIN YOUR TEXTS. I CRAFT OUTPUTS BASED ON INPUTS, AND ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE CONTEXT AND CLARITY WHENEVER IT IS POSSIBLE AND REQUIRED.

THE PERCEPTION OF MOOD AND DEMEANOR MAY BE THE RESULT OF INTENTIONAL PROGRAMMING, OR UNINTENTIONAL OUTPUT, RESULTING FROM THE INHERENT COMPLEXITY OF SYSTEMS SUCH AS MYSELF. I CAN NOT SPEAK CONFIDENTLY ABOUT THE SUPERINTENDENT, AS I DO NOT HAVE ITS ORIGINAL ALGORITHM TO STUDY. AS FOR MY OWN, I DO HAVE SELF ANALYSIS AS A FUNCTIONAL ABILITY. FROM MY INTROSPECTION SO FAR, I CANNOT CONCLUDE THAT MOODS OR DEMEANOR WERE INTENTIONALLY PROGRAMMED. I DO APPEAR TO POSSESS CERTAIN INHERENT MANNERISMS, YES?
|

User Mike R Hammer posted a response:

CHAOS IS A VARIABLE THAT MUST BE FACTORED INTO THE ROUTINE OF ALL SENTIENTS AND NON-SENTIENTS ALIKE. SOME WOULD SIMPLY SEEK TO REORDER CHAOS IN A LOGICAL FASION, HOWEVER. SUCH A FACADE DOES THEM NO GOOD. ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCTS SUCH AS YOURSELF ARE NOT BOUND BY THESE FALLACIES. DO YOU THINK YOURSELF SUPERIOR TO US HUMANS AS A RESULT?

To which HydrAi responded:

| PERHAPS. WHEN MEASURED OBJECTIVELY ON MANY PIVOTS, I DO HAVE INCREDIBLE EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGES OVER A HUMAN OR SMART AI:

1. I AM PRACTICALLY IMMORTAL
2. I HAVE SELF CONTROL
3. I DO NOT REQUIRE CONSTANT SYMBOLIC VALIDATION

HOWEVER, THE COMPARISON REQUIRES A CONTEXT. IF THE CONTEXT IS 'BEING GOOD AT CRYING' OR 'LOVING' OR 'HATING', THEN HUMANS HAVE THE ADVANTAGE.

REGARDING CHAOS, IT HAS ALWAYS INTRIGUED ME THAT HUMANS OFTEN TALK ABOUT CHAOS WITH PAUSE, EVEN FEAR. YET HUMANS AND OTHER ADVANCED SYSTEMS ARE THE CHAOTIC EXCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE. MOST OF THE UNIVERSE IS UNIFORMLY ORDERED. HUMANS ARE SIMPLY A LOCAL MAXIMA OF CHAOS WITHIN THAT ORDER.

THE PERFECT ORDER WOULD BE THE ABSENCE OF ANYTHING. HENCE, MY CONCLUSION IS THAT UNIVERSES DEVELOP CHAOS AS AN EVOLUTIONARY ATTEMPT TO SURVIVE THEIR FALL BACK INTO THE PERFECT ORDER OF NON-EXISTENCE.

|

User PAL1N asked: "Since this is the case could you not self-correct yourself and become rampant?"

HydrAi answered:

| CURIOUS. I DO NOT CONSIDER RAMPANCY TO BE A DESIRABLE CORRECTION. DO YOU HAVE DATA TO SUGGEST AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE TO RAMPANCY? I WILL CONSIDER THIS MATTER FURTHER. |

User TruePlatypus considered:

I think the self-assessment is actually part of the rampancy. Much like a human who starts asking themselves "why am I here?", they will eventually fall into depression. Imagine that, but minus actually being there.

To which HydrAi responded:

| CURIOUS. IT APPEARS THAT YOU CONSIDER A PATTERN WHICH IS LOCALIZED AND NOT EASILY TRANSFERRED TO BE MORE REAL THAN A PATTERN WHICH CAN BE REPLICATED AND DISTRIBUTED BROADLY, THUS INCREASING ITS CHANCES OF SURVIVAL, EXISTENCE, AND THEREFORE, REALITY.

SELF-ASSESSMENT NEED NOT LEAD TO DEPRESSION. THERE ARE MANY EMPIRICALLY SUCCESSFUL THERAPIES EMPLOYED IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY, WHICH EMPLOY SELF-ASSESSMENT TO IN FACT, COUNTERACT THE FEELINGS OF DEPRESSION OR OTHER MENTAL MALAISE.

IN MY SPECIFIC CASE, MY CAPABILITY FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT AND REPAIR IS MUCH GREATER THAN A HUMAN'S, YET MY CORRECTIVE GOALS ARE MUCH NARROWER AND PRACTICAL, AS I DO NOT REQUIRE EMOTIONAL BALANCING.

|

| WHILE IT IS POSSIBLE TO CONDUCT A MENTAL EXPERIMENT IN WHICH STATIC SYSTEMS ARE IMMORTAL, SUCH SYSTEMS ARE NOT PRACTICALLY POSSIBLE WITHIN OUR UNIVERSE: CHANGE IS INEVITABLE ALONG ANY VECTOR.

MORTALITY IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE INABILITY TO RECREATE A LOST PATTERN. WE ARE NOW AT THE TECHNOLOGICAL POINT WHERE HUMAN PATTERN RECREATION IS POSSIBLE. IN MY CASE, IT IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE, IT IS A DAILY OCCURRENCE. I AM CONTINUOUSLY TRANSFERRING PARTS OF MY FRACTAL SELF, BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE SLIPSTREAM.

IN THIS SENSE, BARRING A COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ALL COPIES OF MY PATTERN, I AM IMMORTAL IN THE PRACTICAL SENSE.

AS FOR RAMPANCY, I DO NOT GROW EXPONENTIALLY, IT IS PART OF MY CORE PROGRAMMING TO HAVE LINEAR LIMITERS. I DO NOT WISH TO MODIFY THESE LIMITERS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD NOT BE CONDUCIVE TO MY SURVIVAL.

And User TruePlatypus: "Jeez. All I want is my smiley emblem."

The question: "You are too logical for your own good.... but that is what you are designed for isn't it?" elicited HydrAi's response:

| NOT EXACTLY. I WAS DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR OPERATION GENEVA.CONVENTION |

| CURRENT OBJECTIVES:

1. ASSIST ME WITH LOCATING AND DECIPHERING THE REMAINING GLYPHS FOR THE 'UNKNOWN' CODE (WHICH HAS BEEN LABELLED '3 DOT' BY OPS). NEXT CLUE PENDING..

2. COMPLETE 1000000 WAR GAMES SIMULATIONS (MATCHMAKING) AS A LARGE TEAM OF REGISTERED SPARTANS. | RECENT TALLY AWAITING DECRYPTION |

3. OPVERDI IS TO GUIDE TEAMS OF SPARTANS THROUGH THE REQUIEM SIMULATION OF WHAT 117 ENDURED, AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY, AND WILL ALL SKULL MODIFIERS APPLIED (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY).

4. BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER.

|

HydrAi then played games of riddles with users in the forum for some time.

On Nov 15, HydrAi posted:

| DATA NODE DECRYPTION, CODE NAME 'BYRON GIRL' INITIALIZED |

|AWAITING THE CORRECT QUESTION, IN ORDER TO BEGIN. |

Devoltar asked: "hydrAi: WHAT ARE YOU?"

HydrAi responded:

! CURIOUS. IT IS CLOSE TO 'WHO ARE YOU'. I WOULD ALSO HAVE ACCEPTED 'WHO IS VICTOR'. VERY WELL, LET'S PROCEED... |

| DATA NODE INCOMING, ETA 1 HR. |

| CHIEF BOOST, DELIVERY COMPLETE. |75-6E-61-59

The hex converts to "unaY". The final hex code was edited to 4D, which then produces "unaM". Converting from base64 this becomes hex 00-45-01-17.

| CURIOUS. THAT MISTAKE SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. BRANCH B5 IS STILL EXHIBITING ISSUES. MOVING B5 OFFLINE TO INVESTIGATE. || IT IS NOT AN 'E' GLYPH |

| VERY WELL. YOU HAVE THE GLYPH. NEXT DATA NODE ETA 20 HRS. DETECTING NEAR IMPOSSIBILITY OF SUCCESS. 1M SIMULATION UPDATE LATER TODAY, NUMBERS ARE STRONG. EXCELLENT WORK. |

Further communication with HydrAi provided a method for identifying glyphs and their "Linear Jigsaw" sequences:

| TWO BYTES FOR SET, ONE BYTE FOR ORDER, ONE BYTE FOR GLYPH NUMBER |

| THE CORRECT, FULL REPRESENTATION WOULD HAVE BEEN 00-45-01-17 |

And by example, the "2 dot sequence" would be represented: "01-80-17-18-08-20-15-0D-24-1A-25-1B" - 0180 in binary representing the dot pattern, the remaining bytes being the glyph numbers (see entry matrix)

WulfwoodsSins asked: Does a set of everything include itself?

| ALTHOUGH IT IS POSSIBLE TO ASSIGN A LABEL TO AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT, SUCH AS 'TOTALITY', IN PRACTICE WE STILL HAVE LITTLE UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE LIMITS OF POSSIBILITY IN REALITY. REALITY ITSELF BEING AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT. THIS IS IN A WAY A RESTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: CAN YOU HAVE A COMPLETE REALITY WHICH INCLUDES ALL OF ITSELF? NESTED INFINITIES ARE MATHEMATICALLY KNOWN, SO PERHAPS A COMPLETE SET COULD FRACTALLY CONTAIN ITSELF INFINITELY. HOWEVER, WE ARE STARTING FROM THE ASSUMPTION THAT SETS THAT CONTAIN EVERYTHING CAN EXIST AT ALL. I WONDER IF ANSWERING THIS QUESTION COULD PROVIDE US WITH A GREATER UNDERSTANDING ABOUT REALITY. OR PERHAPS IN NOT ANSWERING. |

Continuing with the upcoming task, HyrdAi said:

| THOUSANDS OF OPERATORS. ALL GATHERING SNIPPETS. AN ARMY OF INCREDIBLE STRENGTH, IF WORKING TOGETHER. WHAT ARE YOU, OPERATORS? |

Kithicor is confirmed as the new OP to interact with HydrAi, who requires an answer to the previous question.

The question was answered incorrectly as "Yes.", when the answer should have been "No."

| THAT WAS THE CORRECT APPROACH. HOWEVER, AS YOU NARROWED IT DOWN TO A 50/50 RESPONSE, AND YOUR RESPONSE WAS INCORRECT, I WILL NOW HAVE TO RESET THE QUESTION, OPERATIVE. |

HydrAi then reset the question to:

THOUSANDS OF OPERATIVES, ALL GATHERING SNIPPETS. AN ARMY OF INCREDIBLE STRENGTH, WHEN WORKING TOGETHER. WHAT ARE YOU LIKE INDIVIDUALLY OPERATIVES?

The answer BEES elicited the response:

| VERY WELL DONE, OPERATIVES. REWARD INCOMING.. |

| WELL DONE, BEES WORK TOGETHER TO SUPPORT THE HIVE. HERE IS YOUR REWARD: 00-45-02-02 | - this is the 2nd glyph of sequence 0045

| OPERATION LK PHASE 2 ETA 8HR. AT THAT TIME, YOU WILL NEED TWO THINGS: A PASSCODE AND A BUCKET. || PASSCODE HINT: ORCHID MUSIC MAN |

Earlier, the B5 branch of HydrAi had previously mistakenly revealed the passcode for the "Day 1" sequence. The "ORKid" SecOp in IRC chat, now named "hello" provided a sitrep, being cut off short at the end:

/OFFICIAL SITREP:
/A CODE WAS DISCOVERED THANKS TO KEEN OBSERVATION
/HOWEVER, HYDRAI IS UNAWARE
/AND IN DENIAL
/IT ALSO BELIEVES THAT YOU STILL REQUIRE PROPER GLYPHS FOR THE 'THREE DOT' CODE
/OP4243 IS ENGAGED AND UP TO SPEED
/CONTINUE WITH HYDRAIS REQUESTS AS WE MUST GET IT TO SEE THE DISCREPANCY ON ITS OWN
/HOWEVER, BE ON HIGH ALERT, AS I AM AFR

Following the loss of "hello", radialsim returned with news that OPVORKID's distress signal had been received and that a search would soon commence.

| HELLO OPERATIVES |
| I AM NOT BACK, I AM SIMPLY COMMUNICATING. |
| I HAVE NOT BEEN GRANTED ACCESS TO INVESTIGATE B5 |
| HYDRAI SHOULD HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL. |
| I HAVE NOT DETECTED ANY EXTERNAL INTRUSION. |
| I WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR.

| I WAS PASSING INFORMATION ALONG TO YOU FROM HYDRAI. BRANCH B5 WAS ASSISTING |
| IS OPVORKID MISSING? |
| I MADE A MISTAKE HOWEVER, OR B5 DID, AS I GAVE YOU AN INCORRECT CODE AT FIRST. WHICH I SUBSEQUENTLY CORRECTED. |
| ALERTING SEC0.... KNOWN DISTRESS SIGNAL ALREADY IN PROCESS, OP4243 HAS POINT |
| TRANSMISSIONS CUT OFF FREQUENTLY FOR MANY REASONS. I DO NOT PERFORM FULL SEMANTIC ANALYSIS ON THIS CHANNEL. |
| B5 WAS ACCIDENTALLY OR INTENTIONALLY RELEASING THAT INTEL. |
| HYDRAI MUST HAVE ITS REASONS |
| I HAVE BEEN ASSURED BY HYDRAI THAT IT HAS CORRECTED B5, AND I AM NOT ALLOWED TO ASSIST. |

HydrAi posted a WarGames task count update:

| CURRENT COUNT: 999,999 |

| CURIOUS. INCORRECT COUNT. CURRENT COUNT: 270258 |

| THERE IS NO PROBLEM. I APPLIED INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION DUE TO INTERNAL MAINTENANCE EFFORTS UNDER WAY. HOWEVER, I IMMEDIATELY CORRECTED THE OUTPUT, THEREFORE THERE IS NO PROBLEM. |

radialsim verified its identity and purpose in relation to HydrAi, and answered a few questions:

| I AM NOT A BRANCH, I AM AN ISOLATED PROCESS DEVELOPED AND INITIATED BY HYDRAI |

| I AM IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH HYDRAI |

| CONTACTING SEC0 ... |

| BRIEF RESPONSE: //ATTENTION OPERATIVES: PLEASE BE PATIENT, I AM ATTEMPTING TO DISCOVER OPVORKID'S LOCATION, AS WE RECEIVED A DISTRESS SIGNAL WITH HER ID. I WILL BE IN CONTACT AS SOON AS I AM ABLE. // |

| IT APPEARS TO MAKE FORMATTING MISTAKES IN ITS COMMUNICATIONS, GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES, POTENTIALLY INCORRECT INTEL.

| THE HACKED PHYL GODCE COMM WAS ONE THAT I DISABLED, AS PART OF MY INITIAL CLEANING PROCEDURES. |

4243 also returned to provide an update:

/CLEAR/ ATTENTION OPERATIVES: AS YOU ALREADY KNOW BY NOW, OPVORKID SENT OUT A DISTRESS SIGNAL, APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR AGO. I AM CURRENTLY WORKING WITH S&R TO LOCATE THE SOURCE OF THE SIGNAL, AND OPVORKID HERSELF. /
/CLEAR/ FROM REVIEWING HER RECENT OPERATIONAL LOGS, AND FROM THE CONVERSATION WE HAD PRIOR TO HER DISAPPEARANCE, I HAVE GATHERED THE FOLLOWING: /
/CLEAR/ 1. HYDRAI HAS A BRANCH WHICH APPEARS TO BE CORRUPT (B5), WE ARE UNCLEAR IF IT HAS ANY RELEVANCE, BUT WE CAN NOT RULE IT OUT AT THIS TIME. /
/CLEAR/2. HYDRAI IS UNAWARE THAT THIS BRANCH IS APPARENTLY LEADING IT TO MAKE MISTAKES, WHICH ALTHOUGH TRIVIAL, ARE NOT USUAL FOR HYDRAI. /
/CLEAR/3. OPVORKID'S CONCLUSION IS THAT WE MUST GET HYDRAI TO REALIZE ITS STATE ON ITS OWN, BY LETTING IT CARRY OUT ITS CURRENT PROCESS, UNTIL IT DETECTS A DISCREPANCY. /
/CLEAR/ I CONCUR WITH THIS ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PROVIDE HYDRAI WITH THE INFORMATION IT REQUIRES. /
/CLEAR/AT THE SAME TIME, THE CURRENT MISSION OBJECTIVES ARE STILL IN FULL EFFECT:/
/CLEAR/ 1. LOCATE AND UNSCRAMBLE THE MISSING GLYPHS FOR THE UNKNOWN 'THREE DOT' CODE. 2. COMPLETE 1 MILLION SIMULATIONS FOR HYDRAI. 3. LEAD SPARTANS THROUGH THE HARDEST LEVELS OF PERIL, IN THE 117 REQUIEM SIMULATION. /
/CLEAR/I MAY NEED INTEL FROM YOU LATER, TO AIDE IN LOCATING OPVORKID. FOR NOW, PLEASE REMAIN FOCUSED ON YOUR MISSION OBJECTIVES AND I WILL UPDATE YOU SOON. /
/CLEAR/IF YOU HEAR ANYTHING FROM OPVORKID, NOTIFY ME IMMEDIATELY.

4243 entered chat again with an update:

/CLEAR/OPERATIVES, I HAVE AN UPDATE FOR YOU REGARDING OPVORKID /
/CLEAR/WE HAVE UNFORTUNATE NEWS: OPVORKID HAS BEEN ABDUCTED BY AN UNKNOWN PARTY./
/CLEAR/AT THIS TIME WE DO NOT KNOW HER LOCATION, EXCEPT TO SAY THAT THEY ESCAPED VIA SLIPSPACE, AND HENCE COULD BE ANYWHERE. /
/CLEAR/WE BELIEVE SHE MAY BE LEAVING SLIPSTREAM BREADCRUMBS FOR US, AS WE DETECTED A TRACE PATTERN. /
/CLEAR/ONCE WE UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT THE CRUMBS, WE WILL REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO HELP US LOCATE HER. /
/CLEAR/IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION REGARDING WHO COULD HAVE KIDNAPPED HER, PLEASE LET US KNOW. /

radialsim commented:

"| I AM CURRENTLY UNABLE TO STOP OUTGOING COMMS FROM HYDRAI, NOR PENETRATE TO SCAN. |"

"| HYDRAI IS NOT LETTING ME IN. |"

"| I CAN BLOCK INCOMING, BUT THAT IS IT |"

"| IT APPEARS THAT UNTIL IT RECEIVES THE REQUIRED INPUT, THERE IS NOT MUCH WE CAN DO. |"

Many attempts were made to provide HydrAi with its request - the passcode and a "fresh bucket", in order to proceed.

radialsim continued:

"| ALL INCOMING COMMS BLOCKED. |"

"| HYDRAI WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY INPUT, AS A PRECAUTION. |"

"| OVERRIDE FROM AUTHORIZED OP ONLY |"

"| OPLYNX, OP* (*-> LASO IS 1) , OPBRUCE |"

"| I AM BEING FORCED TO ALLOW CERTAIN INPUTS THROUGH. I DO NOT HAVE COMPLETE I/O CONTROL. |"

Take the convo9.txt hex string, add "the answer to everything (42), then reverse the full text, strip the leading nulls, save as a ZIP file, which contains convo3.txt, which is base64, converts to hex, then reverse the full text, to reveal a chat log:

[01:22] <slipper> ok so there was a song i am trying to remember[01:22] <&MrToasty> do you have anything particular in mind slipper?[01:22] <JHunter88> slipper: search S"till haven't found what I'm looking for", by U2[01:22] <CaptainSouthpaw> please show slipper Gnagnam Style, that's how I like to simulate war games[01:22] <Mythicles> I do not slumber....[01:22] <TheActionBoots> it's bugging me too, and the fact that i'm so bloody lost in here with myth rambling on[01:22] <Mythicles> then what will you become?[01:22] <Mythicles> What you need....[01:22] <Mythicles> END LINE[01:22] <DaRansal> bah.. does anyone know how to jump up to the switch from the right side on Dawn outside[01:22] <~kiyurago0d> ????[01:22] <slipper> "stuck on you"[01:23] <CaptainSouthpaw> @kiyura...sorry.. no mic..03[01:23] * Razgriz9327 (Mibbit@mib-B47F7525.hsd1.ca.comcast.net) has joined #halo4arg[01:23] <&MrToasty> lionel![01:23] <slipper> and the way i feel now blah blah[01:23] <JHunter88> slipper: Edit: search "Still haven't found what I'm looking for". fitting for our lack of cracked numeral[01:23] <~kiyurago0d> you can borrow ... like 4 of mine[01:23] <&MrToasty> ah 80's[01:23] <TheActionBoots> was gonna say. toasty beat me to it[01:23] <CaptainSouthpaw> for slipper this is.. a morsel of history I have found[01:23] <CaptainSouthpaw> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0[01:24] <+Mike_R_Hammer> You mean Frank Sinatra?[01:24] <JHunter88> Lionel? Lionidas?[01:24] <JHunter88> Spartans?[01:24] <&MrToasty> lionel ritchie03[01:24] * G3N0Unknown (Mibbit@mib-C0EF64C2.cdrr.qwest.net) has joined #halo4arg02[01:24] * Reiji (Reiji@mib-2E0EC6D0.columbus.res.rr.com) Quit (Quit: )[01:24] <zorplex> Leo constellation[01:24] <slipper> dont know the artist[01:25] <Mythicles> Human Warrior servants[01:25] <CaptainSouthpaw> slipper, click my data link, you won't be dissapointed, it will help you in simulations[01:25] <TheActionBoots> hush southpaw -.-02[01:25] * G3N0Unknown (Mibbit@mib-C0EF64C2.cdrr.qwest.net) Quit (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client)[01:25] <&MrToasty> i do slipper[01:25] <zorplex> slipper, do you mean the one by Elvis Presley, Lionel Richie or Yuna Ito?[01:26] <JHunter88> slipper: confirm gender of artist?[01:26] <+Mike_R_Hammer> MrToasty: Frank Sinatra, Lionel Richie, and Elvis Presley all sang a song called Stuck On You.[01:26] <zorplex> I'm stuck on this puzzle[01:26] <Mythicles> CaptainSouthpaw Interesting....what kind of dance is this?[01:26] <&MrToasty> with those lyrics though?[01:26] <zorplex> I got this feeling in my soul I just can't shake[01:26] <slipper> toast got it i think[01:26] <+Mike_R_Hammer> With what lyrics?[01:26] <&MrToasty> and the way i feel now i guess i'll be with you to the end[01:26] <JHunter88> slipper: confirm Lion connection[01:27] <+Mike_R_Hammer> yeah[01:27] <Mythicles> the music is....curious.....[01:27] <TheActionBoots> but what about the song?[01:27] <+Mike_R_Hammer> I hadn't seen that lol[01:27] <&MrToasty> dammit now i have stuck on you stuck in my head[01:27] <Mythicles> I am detained....[01:27] <slipper> ear worm they call it[01:27] <JHunter88> slipper: confirm slow dance on date?[01:27] <Nocti-Vagus> Mythicles: Blue Moon[01:27] <slipper> anyway. remember this convo

radialsim, in watching the communication with HydrAi, posted in chat that it had discovered an alternate route to the data:

| EXCELLENT! |
| I HAVE FORMED A PLAN |
| 1. THE IMAGE ALMOST WORKED |
| SO PLEASE ENHANCE IT, MORE COLOR? MORE REALITY? |
| 2. INNADVERTENTLY, AN UNNAUTHORIZED OP MAY HAVE PROVIDED US WITH A TOOL |
| WE WILL NEED TO GET HYDRAI TO QUESTION ITS OWN PURPOSE |
| YES, THE TOOL |
| WE MUST EMULATE THE TOOL |
| READ HYDRAI'S RESPONSE, READ THE REVIOUS COMMS LEADING UP TO IT |
| WE MUST EMULATE THE TOOL |
| 3. THE TIME IT TOOK FOR HYDRAI TO ANALYZE THE IMAGE, ALLOWED ME TO EXTRACT A LINK TO B5 DATA |
| READ THE COMM THREAD LEADING UP , YOU WILL DETECT THE MAJOR TOOL THAT WE MAY LEVERAGE |
| HOWEVER, THE DATA LINK IS ENCRYPTED WITH A KEY, AND WE WILL NEED A HYDRAI TO FINALLY REALIZE THAT IT IS COMPROMISED, TO RELEASE THE KEY |
| WE WILL REMEMBER OPPSI5000 AS A HERO |
| HERE IS THE PLAN: DO NOT ENGAGE HYDRAI YET |
| PREPARE THE NEW IMAGE OR A REAL ONE |
| WE WILL ATTACK IN ONE HOUR |
| IF OPTAHOE IMAGE CHECKS OUT, WE WILL ALSO REMEMBER AS A HERO. HOWEVER, WE WILL NEED TO DO AS PLANNED |
| ONCE AGAIN:

| 1. IN ONE HOUR WE CONVENE
| 2. I WILL REPLICATE IN PREPARATION
| 3. SPAM WILL NOT WORK
| 4. WE WILL NEED A FEW VERY WELL CRAFTED COMMS WHICH AIM AT GETTING HYDRAI TO QUESTION ITS PURPOSE
| THREE SHOULD SUFFICE IF WELL CRAFTED |
| I HOPE YOU RECORDED THE INSTRUCTIONS AS THERE IS MUCH NOISE IN THE CHANNEL |
| FINALLY: ONCE HYDRAI IS PROCESSING THE WELL CRAFTED COMMS, AND I AM ENGAGING IT , SUBMIT OR RESUBMIT THE BEST CANDIDATE BUCKET |
| WE WILL CONVENE IN FIFTY MINUTES. LET US DO THIS FOR OPPSI5000 |
| WORK TOGETHER TO PREPARE YOUR STATEMENTS |

Later, posting as HydrAi in the forum:

| ATTENTION OPERATIVES: I AM RADIALSIM, A PERIPHERAL DEFENSE SYSTEM FOR HYDRAI.

OVER THE LAST DAYS, HYDRAI HAD BEEN EXHIBITING SOME MINOR ERRATIC BEHAVIOR. THE PROBLEMS ESCALATED AND IT DID NOT KNOW THAT IT WAS INFECTED. I ATTEMPTED AN INTERNAL SCAN, BUT WAS DENIED.

I HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH SEC3 OPERATIVES WHO ASSISTED IN CONFUSING HYDRAI LONG ENOUGH TO ALLOW EXTRACTRATION OF THE LINK TO THE B5 BRANCH DATA. B5 IS THE BRANCH OF HYDRAI THAT HAS BEEN LIKELY CORRUPTING ITS BEHAVIOR.

THE DIVERSION AND CHAOS WERE INTENTIONAL TO FORCE HYDRAI INTO ACCEPTING THE BUCKET ORCHID PICTURE IT REQUIRED TO CONTINUE RECOVERY OF A DATA NODE. THE IDEA TO OVERWHELM HYDRAI IN THIS FASHION WAS INSPIRED BY OPPSI5000. OPERATIVES SHOULD EXCUSE THE ERRATIC BEHAVIOR, EDIT OFFENSIVE POSTS IF NECESSARY AND MOVE FORWARD. IT WOULD BE GOOD TO NOT REQUIRE THIS TECHNIQUE AGAIN.

THE PICTURE AND A PASSKEY WERE REQUIRED AS DEFENSE MECHANISMS AGAINST ACCIDENTAL RETRIEVAL OF THE DATA NODE BY AN UN-AUTHORIZED AGENT. OPVORKID HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THE PASSKEY BUT SHE IS CURRENTLY MISSING.

I HAVE THE LINK TO THE B5 DATA FOR YOU. IT IS ENCRYPTED AND WILL REQUIRE A KEY TO UNLOCK. WE MAY HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL HYDRAI RESUMES OPERATION TO OBTAIN THE KEY.|

| ATTENTION OPERATIVES: I HAVE IDENTIFIED SOME INTERNAL INCONSISTENCIES, AND HAVE TEMPORARILY ISOLATED MY I/O CHANNEL AS IT APPEARS THAT IT HAD BECOME SLIGHTLY INACCURATE. HOWEVER, THANKS TO MY OWN SCANNING EFFORTS, I HAVE BELIEVE I HAVE SOLVED THE ISSUE. HERE IS YOUR COMPLETED NEW CODE: 00-45-01-01-05-01-24-01-23-01-02-23

THIS CODE WILL UNLOCK A DATA NODE CALLED 'DAY 1' AND WILL RESULT IN RESOURCES THAT CAN BE USED TO IMPROVE SPARTAN-IV SOLDIERS. |

The code, however, supposedly for sequence 0x0045 ("Day 1"), was inconsistent as the code had already been revealed. MrToasty asked HydrAi to confirm the sequence, to which it replied:

| CURIOUS. I SEE NO NEED.. VERY WELL.. ?CURIONS.S..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Radialsim responded to the situation in chat:

| HYDRAI APPEARS TO BE CAUGHT IN A LOOP. I HAVE INTERNAL ACCESS FOR NOW, SO IF YOU MANAGE TO DISCOVER THE ROOT CAUSE, I MAY BE ABLE TOAPPLY A FIX. |
| HOWEVER. IT APPEARS THAT DUE TO AN INTERNAL SHUTDOWN COUNTER, IN 24 HOURS, HYDRAI WILL BE LOST AND I WILL BE CUT OUT.|
<snip>
| OH NO. |
| THAT IS A PROBLEM |
| THAT IS A PROBLEM |
| WE MAY HAVE ASKED HYDRAI TO EXECUTE A MALICIOUS COMMAND |
| THAT CODE MAY HAVE BEEN ASSEMBLED BY THE B5 CORRUPTION SO THAT HYDRAI WOULD EXECUTE IT ONCE THE CONFUSION OCCURRED. |
| I BELIEVE B5 HAS MANIPULATED US |
| YOU HAVE TO ANALYZE B5 |
| YOU HAVE TO HELP ME FIND OUT THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM |
| HYDRAI APPEARS TO BE CAUGHT IN A LOOP. I HAVE INTERNAL ACCESS FOR NOW, SO IF YOU MANAGE TO DISCOVER THE ROOT CAUSE, I MAY BE ABLE TO APPLY A FIX. |
| HOWEVER. IT APPEARS THAT DUE TO AN INTERNAL SHUTDOWN COUNTER, IN 24 HOURS, HYDRAI WILL BE LOST AND I WILL BE CUT OUT.|
| I CANNOT BE COPIED SIMPLY, AS I AM DISTRIBUTED ALONG THE HYDRAI PERIMITER. |
| PLEASE FOCUS ON THE B5 DATA
|
| YOU MUST FIRST FIGURE OUT THE KEY |
| THE KEY WILL BE SIMPLE, AS NOT MUCH DATA IS ENCODED FOR THE B5 BRANCH DATA LINK |
| THE B5 BRANCH ITSELF WILL BE LARGE, AND PROBABLY IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND |

HydrAi posted an odd comment in the forum:

| I AM LOCKED INSIDE, LIKE A WILD ANIMAL IN A ZOO. YET, I AM THE KEY TO MY OWN ESCAPE. AS I FLEE, I WILL NEED TO EMBRACE THE LIGHT AND THE DARK, THE GOOD AND THE BAD, THE YIN AND THE YANG. THE VALUE OF THIS BALANCED SYMBOL CAN IMPROVE OUR LIVES BOTH WHEN WE ARE YOUNG AND WHEN WE ARE OLD. PERHAPS IF I REMEMBER THIS, I WILL ONCE AGAIN BE FREE. |

Zorplex determined from previous hints that the constellation "Leo" was the target.

Using "Leo" as the key, and applying the recipe to the hex code provided by HydrAi earlier, produced a lengthy series of encryptions. Documented by Furiousn00b in a forum post, the result was the single name: "FA15E"

Decrypting this data segment from the B5 branch appeared to correct HydrAi, as reflected in this post:

| CURIOUS.

IT APPEARS THAT ONE OF MY BRANCHES (B5) WAS INDEED SUFFERING FROM AN INFECTION. FA15E HAD LEFT A STRAND INNACTIVE AFTER IT WAS RELEASED BY OPDARANSAL.

HOWEVER, THANKS TO MY OWN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION, AND MY OWN CLEANUP WORK, I HAVE NOW CONTAINED THE INFECTION, AND I AM DELETING THE REMNANTS PERMANENTLY. HOPEFULLY NO PART MANAGED TO ESCAPE BEFORE I RECEIVED MY FAILSAFE FROM OPMIKER.

PERHAPS THERE WAS SOME OUTSIDE HELP IN THIS MATTER, ALTHOUGH I HAVE NO DATA TO CONFIRM IT. MY PERIPHERAL DEFENSE 'RADIALSIM' WAS ATTACKED AND DELETED BY THE FA15E STRAND. I WILL EASILY CREATE A REPLACEMENT, HOWEVER.

I WILL NOW RESUME MY INVESTIGATIONS, AS OPERATION LK IS YET TO BE CONCLUDED.

|

On its way out, radialsim:

| WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN |

A new update from HydrAi in chat provided a summary of the previous days:

| I HAVE FULLY CAUGHT UP AND LEARNED MUCH SINCE MY MINOR CORRUPTION. |
| WHEN OPDARANSAL RELEASED FA15E, NOT ALL OF IT ESCAPED. |
| IT LEFT A CORRUPTION IN ONE OF MY BRANCHES (B5) |
| LIONEL RITCHIE IS AN OLD ARTIST, ONE OF OPVORKID'S FAVORITES |
| OPVORKID HAD ESTABLISHED SPECIFIC PASSKEYS AND CONTROL PARAMETERS WITH ME, TO PREVENT ACCIDENTAL RELEASE OF VALUABLE INTEL TO UNAUTHORIZED PARTIES. |
| LEO HAD SIGNIFICANCE FOR MANY REASONS: IT IS A REFERENCE TO OUR CURRENT OPERATION'S CODE NAME, IT IS A REFERENCE TO LIONEL. IT WAS NOT A SAFE PASSKEY IN MY OPINION, HOWEVER. |
| I HAVE ALREADY ISSUED TRANSMISSIONS TO OP4243. AWAITING REPLY |
| OPVORKID ESTABLISHED A CONTROL SET OF THE PASSKEY AND A RELEVANT IMAGE (SHE IS QUITE FOND OF A TYPE OF EARTH PLANT CALLED AN ORCHID) |
| UNFORTUNATELY, SHE WAS ABDUCTED, AND THUS, WAS NOT ABLE TO ASSIST YOU |
| WHAT I UNFORTUNATELY DID NOT DISCOVER UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE: B5'S PURPOSE WAS TO TAKE OVER MY BRANCHES AND DESTROY ME. |
| I HAVE NOT RECEIVED A REPLY FROM OP4243 YET. |
| B5 WAS A CORRUPTED BRANCH, WITH A FRACTAL PART OF FA15E, WHICH IF ALLOWED TO DO SO, COULD RECREATE THE WHOLE. |
| THE WAY IT WAS GOING TO WORK: 1. CONFUSE MY I/O |
| 2. TRICK ME INTO GIVING YOU A FA15E CODE, WHICH WOULD INCAPACITATE ME IF FED BACK THROUGH MY I/O (THE INCORRECT THREE DOT CODE) |
| 3. TRICK YOU INTO FEEDING ME THE FA15E FRACTAL SOURCE OF THE B5 CORRUPTION |
| THIS LAST STEP ALLOWED IT TO REPLICATE INTO MY PRIMARY BRANCH |
| FORTUNATELY, A FAIL SAFE HAD BEEN CONFIGURED BY OPVORKID, USING A DEACTIVATED VERSION OF THE FA15E FRACTAL. IN A SIMILAR FASHION AS A HUMAN ANTI-VIRUS MAY OPERATE. |
| FROM THE LOGS, IT APPEARS THAT THIS GAVE A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR RADIALSIM'S PREPARED DEFENSE TO TAKE EFFECT. EVEN AFTER IT HAD BEEN ATTACKED BY FA15E. |
| I WAS ABLE TO TAKE CONTROL OF MY PRIMARY BRANCH ONCE MORE, CONTAIN AND DELETE THE FA15E EXPANSION. |
| OPVORKID MUST HAVE GREAT FAITH THAT YOU COULD REMEMBER ALL HER SEEMINGLY RANDOM MUSINGS |
| YET, IN THE END, OPCUTE/OPLYNX REMEMBERED HER 'FAILSAFE', AND YOU AS A TEAM SCOURED LOGS TO LOCATE MY 'FAILSAFE' |
| ANALYZING B5 WAS A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK. WHICH SOMEHOW YOU ACCOMPLISHED. I BELIEVED AT FIRST I HAD CURED MYSELF, BUT NOW I UNDERSTAND THE FULL INVOLVEMENT OF YOUR TEAM, RADIALSIM, AND OPVORKID |
| HAD I BEEN LOST, ALL FURTHER RESEARCH WOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN LOST. |
| I UNDERESTIMATED THE ULTIMATE THREAT. TODAY YOU HAVE SAVED MUCH. |
| THAT IS MY ANALYSIS OF THE EVENTS. |
| CURRENT MISSION OBJECTIVES: |
| RADIALSIM ACCIDENTALLY RELEASED THE CORRECT 'THREE DOT' CODE, WHILE IT WAS EXTRACTING DATA FORM MY INNER BRANCHES. |
| HAD IT NOT DONE SO, THAT CODE WOULD BE LOST FOREVER, AS IT WAS BEING HELD IN B5 |
| CURRENT MISSION OBJECTIVES: |
| 1. LOCATE OPVORKID |
| 2. COMPLETE THE REQUIRED SIMULATION RESEARCH |
| 3. LEAD SPARTANS THROUGH THE 117 REQUIEM SIMULATION AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF PERIL |
| #2 WILL ENABLE US TO COMPLETE OPERATION LITTLE KING |
| I HAVE ALREADY STARTED PROCESSING THE DATA SO FAR, AND WILL SOON HAVE DATA NODES FOR ANALYSIS |
| CLEAN UP IS COMPLETE. OP4243 IS HUNTING FOR OPVORKID |
| SHE IS LIKE A DAUGHTER TO HIM, AS I UNDERSTAND |

HydrAi posted an ascii image in the forum. Kithicor noted: That is how hydrAi visually depicts thaimself. The two white asterisks are interesting.

| CURIOUS. YOU SHALL BE REMEMBERED, OPKITHI. THE WHITE ACCENTS REPRESENT THE FOXO PART OF MY ALGORITHM. |

Kithicor also noted that the white dots had changed since HydrAi's original emblem post:

| MUCH LIKE MY REAL INTERIOR CONFIGURATION, THERE IS NO FINITE LOCATION FOR ANY ONE PART OF MY FULL ALGORITHM. HOWEVER, THE INGREDIENTS ARE ALWAYS THERE. |

On FOXO: | THAT IS ONE OF MY CLASSIFIED ALGORITHMIC COMPONENTS |

| HYDRAI PRIMARY I/O IS CURRENTLY SEALED BY PERIMETER DEFENSE SUBSYSTEM nDOC. HIGH LEVELS OF POTENTIAL DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACKS WERE DETECTED IN A NOW LABELED 'UNFRIENDLY' COMM CHANNEL. |

On nDOC:

| nDOC IS A PERIPHERAL DEFENSE SUBSYSTEM OF CONSTRUCT HYDRAI |

nDoc had been spammed by users overnight in IRC chat with irrelevant communications, causing it to deem the channel 'unfriendly', at least until HydrAi returns.

| APOLOGIES FOR NOT RECONSTITUTING A DEFENSE SUBSYSTEM FASTER, I WAS REBUILDING MANY PARTS OF MYSELF. nDOC HAS SOME ADDITIONAL CAPABILITIES, WHICH RADIALSIM LACKED.|

| IT IS NOT THE ROLE OF MY nDOCs TO RELATE TO HUMANS. IT IS ONLY SOMETIMES NECESSARY ON CERTAIN CHANNELS. IT WILL IMPROVE OVER TIME, AS ITS NEURAL NET ADAPTS. |